Fashion insiders know Carine Roitfeld as the former French Vogue editor and provocateur who green-lighted photographs of models in scenes depicting controversial themes such as bondage, exorcism, smoking while pregnant and even blackface.

Everyone else might be more familiar with the character she inspired – Jacqueline Follet, the French magazine editor in the movie “The Devil Wears Prada.”

Though Roitfeld, 58, has yet to become a household name in the U.S., “Mademoiselle C,” a documentary that will debut Wednesday, is a stiletto-heeled step in that direction.

The film's director, Fabien Constant, who has produced or directed at least four fashion-related TV documentaries, said he had discussed the idea of a movie with Roitfeld for years, but was waiting for a definitive story arc rather than a story on her career. In December 2010, Roitfeld announced she would leave French Vogue and embark on personal projects.

“Carine came to me one day, and said, ‘This may sound insane but I'm going to do my own magazine,'” Constant said. “I thought, ‘That's the story.'”

For about nine months, Constant's camera followed Roitfeld, who gave him complete creative freedom and the last word in the final cut.

The film, which opens in select theaters nationwide in the midst of New York Fashion Week, focuses on how Roitfeld created a U.S.-based collectible magazine called CR Fashion Book. Yet, the “bookazine” is only one example of how far Roitfeld has spread her designer-clad wings after flying out of what she calls “the golden cage.”

She has reinvented herself in the past two-and-a-half years, styling the Chanel collections; coproducing with Karl Lagerfeld “The Little Black Jacket,” a coffee-table book; collaborating with Barneys New York for an ad campaign titled “Carine's World”; launching a limited-edition collection evoking her signature smoky eyes and nude lips for M.A.C.; and joining Harper's Bazaar as its global fashion director.

The Register caught up with Roitfeld to discuss the film before its premiere in New York last week. Here are highlights from that conversation:

Orange County Register: What was it like, watching yourself for an hour and a half?

Carine Roitfeld: It was horrible! (Laughing). Because when I accepted the project with Fabian, I didn't realize it would be such a personal project. Of course, I knew I would be involved because I was working on the new CR issue, but I did not understand that it would be so personal. He did everything he wanted, he could go everywhere. I let him do what he wanted. It was like walking naked in the Champs-Elysees.

Q. How did you manage, with having the camera on you all the time for months?

A. If you try to forget about yourself, forget thoughts like ‘I look ugly, I hate my voice, I hate what I'm wearing,' I think it's a good thing because the movie shows what is really in the magazine, it shows what the team is like, working together; it also shows the problems of a magazine when people are working together. People think fashion people are crazy, have big egos, and are monsters. It's easy to say bad things about people in fashion, but suddenly when you see the team – even Karl Lagerfeld is so nice to the team – it's an example of fashion. I think it's educational, in a way.

Q. You said in the film, “I was in a golden cage. Never show it hurts. I was like a horse that lost its stable.” Are you glad to be out of that cage?

A. Golden cage, no? Because Jonathan Newhouse (of Conde Nast, the parent company of French Vogue) was really nice with me and he let me do almost everything I want. Honestly, I was very free, but not totally free. When you are working for a magazine – you cannot do everything, you cannot do a book, you cannot do film, you cannot be an image of a makeup company – and that's totally normal. I was happy to change because after 10 years, I did everything I wanted to do (there) … and if I don't make a change, it might be too late. I'm not 20 years old. Now I have no boss, I have all my freedom – for good and for bad. I decide everything I want to do – sometimes, it's a good decision and sometimes, it's a bad decision, but in a way, it's my decision. I'm working for myself. I'm very happy with all the dream projects I never thought I would realize. I think it's a good moment of my life.

Related Links

Carine Roitfeld, center, discusses the CR Fashion Book with Stephen Gan, founder of the Fashion Media Group LLC, right, at one of the magazine's staff meetings. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Carine Roitfeld and Donatella Versace. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Jean Paul Gaultier with Carine Roitfeld. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Giorgio Armani with Carine Roitfeld. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Carine Roitfeld with Karl Lagerfeld. The designer was among those who supported Roitfeld's new magazine CR Fashion Book. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Sarah Jessica Parker, left, Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld at a party for Lagerfeld and Roitfeld's book "The Little Black Jacket." COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Carine Roitfeld chats with P. Diddy. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
The movie poster for "Mademoiselle C." COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Carine Roitfeld, former editor-in-chief of French Vogue, is the subject of "Mademoiselle C," a new documentary by Fabien Constant debuting in theaters on Sept. 11, 2013. After leaving the famous magazine in 2011, Roitfeld launched her own magazine, CR Fashion Book. COHEN MEDIA GROUP
Kim Kardashian is on the cover of the latest issue of CR Fashion Book, the semi-annual magazine created by Carine Roitfeld, stylist and former editor-in-chief of French Vogue. CR FASHION BOOK

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